Cloverdale tops Clay City, 82-75

Sunday, February 23, 2014

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Clovers welcomed the Clay City Eels to town Saturday night for a highly contested match-up. The Clovers came out with a thrilling victory 82-75.

The Clovers came into the game ranked sixth in Class 2A in the AP poll and went out feeling that they are ready to make a statement in the state tournament.

"We enjoy being ranked but with that we know that we have to keep working hard," CHS coach Pat Rady said.

The Clovers shot 48 percent from the floor which in high school is near the top in averages.

"When you shoot a good percentage it's a sign that you are shooting good shots. I think the ball moved and it got to the person with the good shot," Rady said.

For 33 minutes the game was full of scoring and intense action. Then the 4:25 mark came in the fourth quarter and the crowd was star struck for both sides.

"I thought it was the best basketball we have played. Clay City is an outstanding team. We had to play very good the last four minutes and I thought it was the best we have played all year," Rady said.

The Eels had the lead 64-58 along with the ball but turned it over at midcourt after a Marquise Moore steal. Moore made a layup and the ensuing free throw opportunity to cut the lead to three. After that, it was all Clovers.

Freshman phenom Cooper Neese had 36 points in the game and 20 in the fourth quarter, 18 after the Moore layup.

"We are a very calm, subtle team. We do not get down when we are down and the momentum was our way and it was ready ready for us to win," Neese said.

The Clovers used tight defense and fast feet to hold the Eels to 11 points in the final five minutes.

"We are very quick, we like to press. We have to believe that if it's working we have to go back to it. We got a couple steals and a couple baskets and our crowd got into it," Rady said.

Once the Clovers took the lead 65-64 you could almost feel the building shake it was so loud.

"Our crowd was just really awesome when we needed it," Rady said.

"It makes us feel good," Neese said. "We called that timeout in the fourth quarter to get us going and it was my team that got me up. The crowd will always have an effect on you but the team has the best effect."

Once the Clovers took the lead the game was nearly over as they went on a 17-11 run to end the game and stay with only one loss.

The Clovers know that they still have things to work on even though they are having a dream season.

"Defense and rebound are areas we need to work on. We allow a little too much penetration. Clay City was good so that may have been them. They can go right or left, they are fundamentally sound," Rady said.



At Cloverdale
Clay City 22 11 19 23 - 75
Cloverdale 24 11 15 32 - 82
Clay City (75):
Booe 15, Singer 15, Cesinger 14, Rogers 14, Miller 8, Denker 6, Myers 3. Total: 31-59 (5-14) 8-9, 75.
Cloverdale (82):
Neese 12-22 6-8 36, Moore 6-15 8-9 22, Collett 4-5 0-2 9, Schroer 2-6 2-2 8, Scott 2-7 1-3 5, Hughes 1-1 0-0 2. Total: 27-56 (12-26) 16-21.
Rebounds (offensive):
CC 33-12, CHS 25-10 (Collett 7-5, Moore 5-2, Scott 5-2, Neese 4-1, Schroer 4-0). Turnovers: CC 13, CD 9.

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